Proud.....Rolling Down the River

Well today's the day when we were to set off on the mighty river Trent.. we were excited and apprehensive at the same time. First we got out the Anchor and put it together (just in case).

We then set off with the wind still picking up as we left. We went through, believe it or not, Derwent mouth lock and then saw the river in front of us. Yes, Derwent6 was at the mouth of the Derwent River.You could see the current flow from right to left and we stuck the bow out and watched it pull us round luckily in the direction we wanted to go. Once we were in the flow we could back off the revs and let the current do the work. What was strange was that Derwent6 felt lower in the water, it felt like the gas locker was taking on water. This was because the bow wasn't pointing into anything green like the banks or hillside, but just a massive expanse of water.

We then travelled past Sawley Marina and then onto the first lock, which started to open as we approached as it was electrically operated. It seemed strange that we were both on board when going through a lock. The lock keeper came out to us and checked our licence and gave us some good information on the River Soar and Leicester section of the Grand Union. We then made our way onto the River Soar and it was then we noticed how high the piling was when we had to do our next lock. It was difficult trying to hold Derwent6 away from the high concrete sides which were there to help when it floods. We caught the side a couple of times so more touching up required. The river was just fantastic and very scenic, we both loved it.

We then got to Loughbourgh and moored in the town. BW have done a good job on the basin and there were plenty of moorings. It seemed weird going round the shops as we hadn't done it for a long time. We had hit the town market right as well, as it was the end of the day and they were selling everything off at brilliant prices. After going round Sainsburys we headed back to Derwent6, and as it was Saturday night, and we were surrounded by bars and clubs, we decided to move on. We found a spot in the middle of nowhere and settled down for the night. What a great experience!!!